During the best time of year for Cinderella stories, the Lake Travis boys just keep pushing back midnight.

The Cavaliers (10-8-5) upset the Travis Rebels in the third round of the playoffs Friday night at House Park on penalty kicks, earning a date in the regional semifinals with Alamo Heights next week.

The boys finished regulation tied at 2-2, thanks to goals by Brett Zogas and Stephen Pyle.

After the tie couldn’t be settled in overtime, the two teams stood at a 3-3 tie in penalty kicks after five rounds. Then Dylan Manos converted, and Lake Travis keeper Julian Soto forced a Travis’ player’s touch wide, and the player couldn’t get his goal attempt off before time expired.

” I was pretty positive he was going to run out of time, he took a giant touch, so when he went by I just waited for the whistle to blow,” Soto said. “Once that happened, it was ecstasy I guess. I just remember sprinting to celebrate with my teammates.”

The Cavaliers have struck the iron while it’s hot, going on the deepest playoff run in school history.

“They just keep winning. They want this and they find ways to make it happen,” Lake Travis head coach Brett Schwab said. “Travis is a great team, and it took everything we had. I’m just so proud of them.”

Travis struck first in the first half, converting on a cross from just outside of the box that was fired home by a Rebel forward, but Lake Travis answered before halftime when a corner header from Zogas deflected off of a Travis defender and into the goal to tie the game at 1-1.

Lake Travis went ahead in the second half on the goal by Pyle, a deflection that he buried into the net and then celebrated with a back flip.

As was the case yet again, Lake Travis had to shut down a dominant forward, and again, they found a way.

This time it was against 2007 Central Texas Player of the Year, Porofio Valenzuela.

“We had to stand up Valenzuela, every time he gets the ball he dances with it, so we had to stand him up and go through him. Otherwise he’ll pass the ball off every time,” Schwab said. “We had to play our A-game tonight, and we brought our Double-A.”

But Valenzuela and his teammates answered in the closing minutes of the second half to tie the game, killing Lake Travis’ momentum.

It left Schwab second-guessing himself.

“I was thinking maybe I should have pulled back someone in the middle, like pull back my second forward to secure the defense, but I didn’t know if I really could because it seemed like there was too much time left,” he said. “I wanted to keep that pressure on, but then we gave it up and you’re thinking, ‘son of a gun.’ You start second-guessing yourself.”

Then with just a few seconds left, Pyle missed a potential game-winner by just a few feet. He was beside himself as he headed to the sideline at the end of regulation.

It was silly, according to Schwab, who said the team wouldn’t be where it is without Pyle’s leadership.

“He missed that last opportunity with 30 seconds left, and he came off the field with his head down. I told him, ‘Dude, don’t worry about it,’” Schwab said. “But he was upset because he wanted to end it. I told him not to worry, just make your PK if we get to that point. And sure enough, he did it. He sets the tone for us in everything.”

After 20 minutes of overtime, the teams were still stuck at 2-2, and were forced to head to a shootout.

Lake Travis converted three of its five kicks thanks to Kramer Fyfe, Pyle and J.C. Schilling, and Soto was able to save two of his own. So the teams were forced to fight round-by-round in the shootout.

But it would only take one extra round, as Manos converted and Soto shut down the Rebels one more time.

“He’s been huge for us all year, and he stepped up again,” Schwab said of Soto.

For his part, Soto wasn’t very worried.

“I feel pretty comfortable with this style of penalty kicks, so I knew I’d be OK,” he said.

It was more than OK for the Cavs, who have cemented a legacy as the best the school has seen since opening its doors.